Do I need an asbestos survey?
If your building was built or refurbished before 2000, you are legally required to manage the asbestos in it, and you cannot manage what you have not found. Who holds the duty in a leased building, the difference between a management survey and a refurbishment survey, what a survey should cost, and the removal work you should not be talked into.
Looking for the technical detail? Read the version for professionals → CAR 2012 regulation 4, HSG264 survey guide, licensed versus non-licensed work, notifiable non-licensed work, and the asbestos register.
Do I need one? If the building was built or refurbished before 2000, yes, in effect. The law requires the duty holder to find out whether asbestos is present and manage it. You can't manage what you haven't found.
Does that mean removal? No. The duty is to manage. Asbestos in good condition, left undisturbed, is usually safest where it is.
Where are buyers oversold? Surveys commissioned by tenants who already had one in the landlord's filing cabinet; removal quoted for material that should be managed; and annual re-surveys of a building that only needs its register re-inspected.
What the law actually requires
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulation 4: the duty holder for non-domestic premises must take reasonable steps to find out whether asbestos-containing materials are present, where they are and what condition they are in; presume materials contain asbestos unless there's strong evidence they don't; keep an up-to-date record (the asbestos register); assess the risk; prepare and implement a plan for managing it; and give the information to anyone who might disturb it, including contractors. It applies to the common parts of domestic buildings too.
The person with responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the premises under a contract or tenancy, or, if there isn't one, whoever controls the premises. In a leased building that's typically the landlord for the fabric and common parts and the tenant for the demise, but a full repairing lease can put the whole duty on the tenant. It's the lease that decides, not the sign on the door.
HSE's guidance on asbestos surveys. Two types: the management survey (sampling, presumption and visual inspection to find asbestos that could be disturbed in normal use) and the refurbishment and demolition survey (fully intrusive, before any building work). Surveyors should be accredited to ISO 17025 or hold the P402 qualification with evidence of experience. Not law, but the standard against which a survey is judged.
- A survey of a building built or wholly refurbished after 2000.
- Removal of asbestos that's in good condition and won't be disturbed.
- Annual re-surveys. The survey is done once; the re-inspection is periodic.
- Any survey where the landlord already holds a compliant one for the premises you occupy.
Northern Ireland: the Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 impose the same duties.
What this means for your premises
Built after 2000, never refurbished before: no survey needed. Keep the evidence of the build date.
Built or refurbished before 2000, you lease it: ask the landlord for the asbestos register and management plan. If they hold a management survey covering your part of the building, you need a copy, not a new survey. If they don't, and your lease makes you responsible for repair, the duty is yours.
Built before 2000, you own it: you're the duty holder. Management survey, register, plan, periodic re-inspection.
Any building, about to be refurbished: refurbishment and demolition survey of the area being worked on, before the work starts. Your contractor is legally entitled to ask for it and should refuse to start without it.
Your options
The management survey, once
Commission it from a UKAS-accredited survey company or a surveyor holding P402 with demonstrable experience. The report should include a plan of the building, every location sampled or presumed, the material, its condition, a risk assessment for each item, and recommended actions. Get the sample analysis certificates from a UKAS-accredited laboratory.
The register and plan, ongoing
The survey feeds the register. The plan says who is responsible, what will be done with each item (usually "manage in place, re-inspect"), and how contractors are told before they work. A trained person in-house can do the periodic re-inspections and update the register; you don't need to pay a surveyor to walk round every year and confirm the ceiling tiles are still there.
Removal, only where needed
Damaged, deteriorating, or in the way of planned work. Licensed materials (sprayed coatings, lagging, insulating board in most cases) need a licensed contractor and, for most work, 14 days' notice to HSE. Non-licensed materials (cement sheet, floor tiles, textured coatings) can be removed by trained non-licensed contractors, and some non-licensed work is notifiable. Always get the survey first, then two quotes, and check the contractor's licence on HSE's register.
What it should cost
Management survey of a small commercial building: £200 to £500. Larger building: £500 to £2,000 or more. Sample analysis: usually included, or £15 to £40 a sample. Refurbishment survey: priced by area, usually more. Periodic re-inspection by a surveyor, if you outsource it: £100 to £300. Licensed removal: from around £1,000 for a small job to far more; always the survey and two quotes first.
What you shouldn’t be sold
- A survey the landlord already holds. Ask for the register before you commission anything.
- A survey of a post-2000 building. Asbestos was banned in 1999. Keep the build date on file.
- Removal of material in good condition. Manage it. Removal disturbs it, costs more, and creates the very risk you're trying to avoid.
- An annual re-survey. The survey is once. The re-inspection is periodic and can be in-house.
- A management survey passed off as a refurbishment survey. If you're doing building work, you need the intrusive one for that area. If a contractor starts work on the strength of a management survey, stop them.
- Removal quoted by the surveyor. Keep survey and removal separate, as with everything on this site. The surveyor who finds it shouldn't be the one who profits from taking it out.
- "Asbestos awareness" training sold as a survey substitute. Training is for people who might disturb it. It doesn't tell you where it is.
Check what else your business needs
Asbestos is one of the specific assessments under your general risk assessment. Older buildings usually also need attention on electrical inspection and legionella. Run the Compliance Check to see the full picture.
Sources
- Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulation 4 — legislation.gov.uk
- HSE, Managing and working with asbestos, Approved Code of Practice L143 — hse.gov.uk
- HSE, HSG264, Asbestos: the survey guide — hse.gov.uk
- HSE, Managing asbestos in buildings: a brief guide, INDG223 — hse.gov.uk
- HSE, Asbestos licence holders register — hse.gov.uk
- Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012
Quick answers
- Is an asbestos survey a legal requirement?
- The law requires the duty holder for non-domestic premises to find out whether asbestos is present, assess its condition, keep a record and manage the risk. For any building built or refurbished before 2000 the only practical way to do that is a management survey by a competent surveyor. Buildings built after 2000 can be presumed asbestos-free, since asbestos was banned in 1999.
- Who is the duty holder for asbestos?
- Whoever has responsibility for maintenance and repair of the premises. In a leased building that is usually the landlord for the structure and common parts and the tenant for the parts they occupy and maintain, depending on the lease. If you have a repairing lease, the duty is probably yours. Read the lease.
- What is the difference between a management survey and a refurbishment survey?
- A management survey locates asbestos that could be disturbed during normal occupation and maintenance, so you can manage it in place. A refurbishment and demolition survey is fully intrusive and is required before any refurbishment, building work or demolition. You need the first to occupy the building and the second before you knock anything down.
- Do I have to remove asbestos?
- No. Asbestos in good condition that is not going to be disturbed is usually safer left in place and managed. The duty is to manage, not to remove. Removal is required only when the material is damaged, deteriorating or in the way of planned work.
- How much does an asbestos survey cost?
- A management survey of a small commercial building, £200 to £500. A larger building, £500 to £2,000 or more. Sample analysis is usually included or £15 to £40 a sample. A refurbishment survey is priced by the area being worked on and is generally more. Removal of licensed materials is a separate specialist job and is expensive.
- How often does an asbestos survey need to be redone?
- It does not. The survey is done once. What the law requires afterwards is that the condition of the asbestos is re-inspected periodically, typically every six to twelve months, and the register and plan updated. That re-inspection can be done by a trained person in-house.
- Does a shop or office need an asbestos survey?
- If the building was built or refurbished before 2000, yes, and the duty holder must hold one. Ask your landlord for the asbestos register before you assume you need to commission a survey yourself; they may already have it.
This is general information about UK compliance, written for the person paying the bill. It isn’t legal advice. If your situation is unusual, get a professional to look at it.